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Protesters demonstrating in front of the Supreme Court in Tokyo on Tuesday against court rulings acquitting two former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings over the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 12, 2025

Acquittal of two former Tepco executives finalized

Lawyers acting as prosecutors did not file an appeal against the Supreme Court's decision last week that upheld the not-guilty verdicts against the executives.
A seafood market in Beijing. China has agreed to lift a ban on Japanese seafood imports that has lasted for 21 months.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 30, 2025

China agrees to lift ban on Japanese seafood imports

The prohibition was imposed in response to the release of treated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean.
Kansai Electric Power Company's Mihama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2025

Kepco to build Japan’s first new nuclear reactor since Fukushima meltdown

Kepco’s plan for a new reactor comes after the government adopted the Seventh Strategic Energy Plan in February, declaring policies to maximize the use of nuclear power.
Hidetada Yoshida, 95, speaks of his experience mining for uranium ores in Fukushima Prefecture during World War II.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Sep 22, 2025

Memories of man's WWII mining experience are hazy, but pain persists

As a student mobilized to mine ores, Hidetada Yoshida, now 95, suffered an injury so severe it still wakes him at night.
People use umbrellas and parasols to seek relief from soaring temperatures while waiting to cross a street outside Tokyo's Shinjuku Station last week.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 5, 2023

Japan marks hottest day of year as mercury hits 40 C

The record temperature was marked in Date, Fukushima Prefecture, as a heat wave continues to scorch much of the country.
Vendors carry lobster at a seafood market in Shanghai, China, on Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2023

Japan fishing industry reels after China’s seafood embargo

The average price of fresh Aomori tuna at the Toyosu market in Tokyo fell 24% on Aug. 25 from the previous day to ¥9,383 per kilogram.
Customers shop at a seafood market in Beijing on Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2023

Russia hopes to raise seafood exports to China after Japan ban

Russia is already one of the biggest marine product suppliers to China, with 894 Russian companies allowed to export seafood.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 29, 2023

Hokkaido hit hard by China's ban on Japan seafood imports

Chinese demand for products like scallops and sea cucumbers provides a crucial source of revenue for the prefecture.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 1, 2023

Fisheries minister under fire for ‘contaminated water’ gaffe

“Contaminated water” is the expression used by China, and Japan has been extremely critical of Beijing's labeling.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 6, 2023

Kishida meets Chinese premier for first talks since water release

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sought to tamp down Beijing's concerns, explaining Japan's stance to Chinese Premier Li Qiang during meetings in Jakarta.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel gives a speech at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 23, 2023

U.S. envoy to Japan slams China in speech and social media post

Rahm Emanuel posted pictures of Chinese boats he said were fishing near Japan despite Beijing's seafood ban over the Fukushima water release.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 29, 2023

Eyeing China, G7 calls for 'immediate repeal' of bans on Japanese food

The ministers, after meeting in Osaka, did not mention China but denounced what they consider its rising economic coercion through trade.
Zero carbon energy accounts for 28% of Japan's grid, falling short of countries like Germany, whose share of clean energy generation reached 58% last year.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 6, 2023

How Japan became the land the energy transition forgot

Its symbol may be the rising sun, but a wholesale adoption of renewables by Japan is light years away, mired in bureaucratic and technical hurdles.
U.S. President Joe Biden greets Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Woodside, California, on Nov. 15.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Nov 21, 2023

'Offensive' and 'defensive' diplomacy: Managing ties with China

Since the 20th National Congress of the CCP, in October last year, Beijing has been seeking to maintain a balance.
Overseas fish buyers participating in a business tour organized by the Japan External Trade Organization visit a fish market in the city of Aomori on Monday.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2023

Overseas fish buyers begin business trip in Japan

JETRO organized the tour to help fishery business operators find alternative buyers in the wake of China's ban on Japanese marine products.
Junior high school students from the inland town of Sumita, Iwate Prefecture, visit the Iwate Tsunami Memorial Museum in the city of Rikuzentakata in December.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 4, 2024

Educational tours aim to preserve memory of Tohoku quake

Efforts are being made to ensure lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake are passed on to future generations.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2024

Tepco profit goal remains elusive, 13 years after triple meltdown

The total costs related to the nuclear crisis are estimated at ¥23.4 trillion, including ¥8 trillion for decommissioning the Fukushima No. 1 plant.
A U.S. military Osprey aircraft flies over the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in the center of the city of Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, in August 2022.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 30, 2024

Japan designates U.S. bases in Okinawa as security-linked sites

The government has designated 184 sites in 28 of the country's 47 prefectures as critical to national security in the fourth round of such designations.
Peaches grown in Fukushima Prefecture. A so-called zebra firm in the prefecture is selling substandard fruits to greengrocers in urban areas, which leads to higher incomes for local farmers.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2024

Japan eyes socially mindful startups to boost regional economies

Starting in June, the government will launch pilot projects to help such startups cooperate with local governments, banks and companies.
Tourists rest in the shade at the Tsukiji outer market in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2024

Japan marks first 'extremely hot day' of 2024

The temperature hit 35 degrees Celsius in Fukushima Prefecture and rose above 30 C in parts of Tokyo, the Meteorological Agency said.
The central monitoring room of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Aug. 9
JAPAN / Society
Aug 25, 2024

Tepco completes fourth round of fiscal '24 treated water release

Since discharges began in August last year, the company has released 62,400 metric tons of the treated water over a total of eight rounds.
The Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant's No. 2 reactor was set to restart Tuesday after more than 13 years of suspension.
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2024

Japan restarts nuclear power plant closest to 2011 earthquake

Nuclear power used to account for around a quarter of Japan’s electricity mix prior to the disaster, but it was at just 6% as of March 2023.
Tohoku Electric Power workers restart the Unit 2 reactor of the Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2024

A lack of workers threatens Japan's nuclear power revival

The slow revival of nuclear power has dramatically worsened a skills crunch visible across the nation’s nuclear industry.
Tsunehisa Katsumata was known for his quick decision-making, which earned him the nickname “Razor Katsumata.”
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2024

Former Tepco chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata dies at 84

Katsumata was the company's point man after the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant went into meltdown in the wake of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
The seaside town of Shika on the Noto Peninsula, where the local power provider, Hokuriku Electric, has been fighting for a decade to restart a nuclear power plant in the town’s center.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 2, 2024

Can quake-prone Japan ever embrace nuclear energy again?

The government, its makeup in flux after the LDP lost seats this week, will soon need to make decisions that will shape Japan's future nuclear policy.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station in Niigata Prefecture, the world's biggest nuclear plant, on Aug. 5. Like many others in Japan, the plant is seeking clearance to restart, as the country grapples with how to shape its nuclear future.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 19, 2024

Japan’s nuclear future: Caught between climate goals and reality

Japan is well short of hitting its nuclear power goals by 2030, with the challenging nature of reactor restarts likely impacting its emissions reduction targets.
A stone pillar at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, on which the word "toilet" was spray-painted in May
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 29, 2024

Chinese man pleads guilty to role in vandalizing Yasukuni Shrine

Jiang Zhuojun said he assisted with the vandalizing to protest against Japan's discharging of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Chugoku Electric Power Company's Shimane nuclear power plant
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2024

Chugoku Electric restarts Shimane reactor for first time in 13 years

The long-delayed restart of the reactor, which was shut down in January 2012, boosts the number of Japan's operational reactors to 14.
The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2024

IAEA team arrives in Japan for third review of N-plant water release

The mission will conduct safety inspections and meet government and Tepco officials.
Japan aims for nuclear power to make up 20% of its energy mix by 2040. However, the restart of the country's reactors is complicated by issues such as local opposition, as is the case for the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 10, 2025

Robust new nuclear target for Japan is shrouded in uncertainty

A new plan envisions nuclear power making up 20% of Japan's energy mix by 2040. But hurdles to reactor restarts and rising electricity demand cast a shadow on such ambitions.

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?